Cultural Olympiad: the Game’s Afoot

This weekend sees the beginning of the Cultural Olympiad, the £40m marketing drive by the government to persuade us all that the Olympics are good and hey-you-don’t-even-need-to-be-sporty-to-benefit. Cynicism aside, the idea is really sound. At worst it means that we all get a bit of extra art/theatre/music, but if all goes according to plan it will serve to lift the whole Olympic thing into a nation-affirming revelation.

Today’s launch saw former Olympic medallists, including Dame Kelly Holmes and 2012 supremo Lord Coe, running at Tate Britain as part of Martin Creed’s installation - an imaginative if puzzling blend of sport and art.

There are a vast number of events during the weekend. A meander by Londonist threw up the rather jolly sounding Big Bang Lab, a workshop at the ICA on Sunday afternoon which aims to recreate music from the silent movie era, a boxing demo at the London District TA and Army Boxing Club (that’s from 9am tomorrow), special marionette performances of The Sleeping Beauty at the Islington’s Little Angel Theatre, and a day of free storytelling at London’s Foundling Museum in Brunswick Square. We should stress that these are but four of more than a hundred such events across the capital – this is a huge enterprise. It would be really sad if you don’t manage to check at least one of them out.